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Thursday, November 6, 2014

Mustache Baby!! Just In Time For Movember! Using Single Use iPad Apps To Connect With Children's Literature!

Most of my 1st grade students don't really know about Movember, an annual event that takes it's name from the combination of the words Mustache and November, encouraging men to grow mustaches to raise awareness of men's health issues. I really didn't have Movember in mind when I planned this lesson for 1st graders! It was a happy coincidence, but a few of my 1st graders made the connection! It is always fun when our lessons connect to the world outside of school!

When I first found the book Mustache Baby, by Bridget Heos, I was instantly drawn to it! I am married to a man who gets a lifetime achievement award every time there is a mustache growing contest. His mustache has been called "epic", and I have often thought he must have been born with a mustache! So I was "all in" when I read this delightfully funny book! Whether there is a personal connection to mustaches or not, this book is a joy! The rich use of word play makes it engaging and clever! Students laughed, adults around the library laughed, everybody laughed!

After we read the book, we were in a mustache mood, so we turned to our iPads to make a little mustache magic! Believe it or not, there is an app for that! BoothStache! I don't typically choose single use apps with students, but sometimes they are a perfect fit for extending lessons! This was the first time for my 1st graders to take selfies with a mobile device. The app was perfect because it provided an outline to help students aim for the center of screen! The outline helped remind them to look straight at the device with their arms outstretched, not from their laps, a common mistake for our young digital photographers! It will take a few more attempts for all of them to figure out how to look at the camera. They often look at themselves which makes their eyes look closed in the photo. They will get it with practice!

After they took their selfies, students added mustaches to their faces! The app gave them a choice of several mustache styles!

1st graders with mustaches - such great fun!! Just like the baby in Mustache Baby, all they had left to do was decide if their mustache would be a good-guy mustache, or a bad-guy mustache!